FROM THE JOURNAL - COCKTAILS & CURIOSITIES
The Fifth Day of Christmas
Cocktail : MULLED SLOE GIN
Recipe: Gin, sloe gin, orange juice, cranberry juice, winter spices.
We all love a Christmas tune and, by now, we're probably all a bit fed up with hearing the same songs on repeat!
Leaving the festive pop classics aside, I thought I'd look into one song that has a rather colourful history...
Jingle Bells was originally published in 1857 by James Lord Pierpont under the title One Horse Open Sleigh. Despite what many people think, it wasn't written as a Christmas song at all. Historians believe it was intended for Thanksgiving or a Thanksgiving Sunday school programme.
Pierpont, the son of a minister, was something of a rebel. He abandoned his family more than once in search of fortune, supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War and seemed to live life very much on his own terms.
The song itself celebrates the excitement of horse-drawn sleigh rides and is thought to have been inspired by the popular sleigh races held in Massachusetts during the early 1800s. There's not a single mention of Christmas, and if you delve into the lesser-known verses, you'll find tales of flirting, showing off, racing and even crashing the sleigh! Some music historians have also suggested that Pierpont borrowed ideas from other popular sleighing songs of the day. Original or not, it clearly struck a chord and eventually earned him a place in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Then came one of my favourite festive fun facts...
In 1965, Jingle Bells became the first song ever performed in space. Gemini 6 astronauts Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford surprised Mission Control by producing a harmonica and a handful of tiny sleigh bells they'd secretly smuggled onboard and treated everyone to a festive rendition.
Whether Pierpont intended it or not, Jingle Bells has become one of the best-loved Christmas songs of all time. It's hard to imagine the festive season without hearing those familiar opening notes.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be swapping
Jingle Bells for a
Gin-gle Bells cocktail instead!